BEING YOURS

CHAPTER TEN

NB: This chapter and some subsequent ones contain suicidal scenes that may be triggering or unsettling, reader discretion advised.

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Umar placed his ID before the card reader but instead of a ting, it's a double buzz.

His brows furrowed and he tried again. The same result.

He tried twice more but it's to no avail.

Andy wasn't in his space and he went to his desk, put down the files with him and took his phone out of his pocket.

He thus dialed Khalil.

"Hey man, who's tryna get into Ali's office?" Trust Khalil to get a notification.

"It's me! My ID's not opening the door."

"What?! Why?"

"Don't ask me that, check what the problem is."

"Okay, give me a sec." He disconnected the call and Umar dialed Andy.

"Sir Farouq,"

"Where are you Andy?"

"Sir Ali sent me on an errand."

"Ali? He's in the office?"

"Yeah, he came just some moments ago and he asked me to get him some files from home."

"How long has he been in?"

"It'll be for about ten to fifteen minutes."

Umar ended the call without a word more and called one of the receptionists.

"Zayyad, please check if Ali's car is in the lot. Now."

"Okay."

There's shuffling from the line and with every passing second he grew more and more agitated.

Khalil's call came in but he didn't receive, praying quietly that the car wasn't there.

"It's here Sir."

"Damn!" He cut the call and called Khalil instantly.

"The access has been denied! All the ID accesses have been denied. How the hell didn't I know that? What's happening?!"

"Get to the office now." He said and ended the call as he reached his office.

He went to his PC and logged into the door's management software, readded his ID card number and dashed back to Ali's office.

Umar almost lost his breath when he saw Ali seated on his chair, hugging himself and head on the desk.

He ran to him and held him up only to realize that he's shivering.

"Ali,"

He smiled lopsidedly at him. "How did you get in?"

"What's wrong? Why're you shivering?"

He shook his head and looked at his messy desk. "What do you want? Do you have a problem?"

"Why're you here today? It's Tuesday. You should be at the base."

"Do I need a timetable to come to my own office?" He croaked, twisted his face and hung his head, holding the side of his abdomen.

"What's wrong Ali?"

His breath hitched in his throat as he forced a trembling smile Umar's way.

"What is happening to you?"

He clenched his jaw and shook his head. "Nothing... I'm okay. What's the problem? What do you want? If there's nothing, go away. I wanna be alone."

"Why did you deny the access?"